Hola amigos, I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya ... and no excuses. Things have indeed been pretty busy around here, but really the main reason I haven't made any updates to the blog is just plain laziness. Not a whole lot to say, really. And, you know how it is: put it off for a little while; then you start feeling bad that you didn't do it when you should have; which makes you not want to do it; which makes you put it off some more; which makes you feel even worse; etc. Kinda like bathing. Anyhow, it is starting to look like my days in la Suisse may be numbered, so I figured I should sort of empty the metaphorical hopper of all the stuff I haven't posted yet just so that it will be there for all. Seeing as how I talk to most of my "readership" personally (Hi Mom), most of you have probably heard of or seen a lot of this, so you'll have to wait for even later updates for some new info. The Jura, redux No other place on earth offers m...
Just a couple of quick notes today, with no particular theme. First, I've switched apartments. No, I haven't gotten a proper apartment (I visited 5 more apartments yesterday), but I have switched rooms in the same building. The new apartment is smaller (it's about the size of my last dorm room at Mudd) but significantly nicer and cheaper. It doesn't have the same "charm" as the old one (every single scrap of furniture is from IKEA), but it also doesn't have the same "smell" or "unusual stains on the walls." I will post a picture of Basil in his new digs soon. I was able to switch french classes as well, so last night I had my first class at level B1. It was definitely much more my style. The teacher was enthusiastic and friendly; the students were... well, almost all of the student were older than me (by a lot) and German, so it was an odd group. We had to do an activity at the beginning of class wherein we talked to the people n...
One of the constant pleasures of living in Switzerland is receiving bills that just do not make any sense. For instance, when Christine mailed me an official "Google" jacket, along with some other small items, I had to pay a bribe of 55 CHF at the post office in order to pick up the package. Why? Well, customs had opened the box and determined that the jacket was worth 300 CHF (ha!), then charged me tax on that value (25 CHF) and a "customs fee" of 30 CHF for not properly declaring the item. Lame. Although I have received countless packages from my parents without any customs costs (maybe because they ship to my work address), the same thing happened again when I ordered a pair of shoes online from England. After receiving the shoes (which were about 100 CHF), two weeks later I got a customs bill for 60 CHF. Not only did I pay tax and "customs fees", I also had to pay "administrative costs" and "commission." Super lame. I could g...
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